Inside Elland Road: Defensive solidity is vital for Leeds Utd
The Leeds United striker's brilliant goal was overshadowed by another disappointing defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Lukas Nmecha insists the Leeds United squad will ‘keep pushing together’ after another disappointing defeat on the road at Nottingham Forest.
Leeds head into the November international break off the back of consecutive away defeats following Sunday’s 3-1 loss at the City Ground. The Whites went ahead early on through Nmecha but conceded a trio of sloppy goals to hand Forest just their second win of the season.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin fit enough only for the bench, Nmecha returned to the startling line-up for the first time since Everton and grabbed his second goal of the season with a clinical finish. Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson combined to feed the striker, who worked half a yard before arrowing a finish through the legs of Neco Williams and into the far bottom corner.
But that advantage was forfeited two minutes later when Ibrahim Sangare levelled, with second-half goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson effectively ending the contest. All three concessions were avoidable from a Leeds perspective and defeat leaves them a point ahead of Burnley and West Ham, the latter occupying the final bottom three spot.
After a positive start to the campaign, Leeds have lost four of their last five and sit dangerously close to the relegation zone as their rivals pick up points. But while goalscorer Nmecha acknowledges Sunday was another difficult day, he insists belief remains strong within the squad.
In a post on Instagram after Sunday’s defeat, Nmecha wrote: “Disappointing game but the belief stays. We’ll keep pushing together”. Right-back Jayden Bogle commented a heart emoji while the likes of Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka all liked the post and accompanying message.
Daniel Farke ‘quite calm’ after Forest defeat
Leeds now have two weeks to reflect on Sunday’s defeat and the season so far, with a tricky run of fixtures to come after the November international break. The Whites host Aston Villa at the end of next week before meetings with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
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Farke’s side have now faced every team in the current bottom half but have been unable to capitalise on that favourable opening period. But the Leeds boss insisted after defeat on Sunday he and the squad remain calm amid growing frustration and anxiety among supporters.
“We have 11 games, 11 points, the points average we need to stay in this league, we've never been in the relegation zone,” he said. “Could have been better but if I'm honest, in my dream version we cruise easily and right now it's all a bit tighter but it's nothing making us panic.
“The outside world, we can't influence it much. We're quite calm. We had a difficult run of games with three away games in the last four games. We know we're a bit more likely to win our home games. We want to win points in away games and have to return back to more defensive stability, more than we've shown in the last two games."
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